Five Ways to Address Your Data Management Issues

Tiered Storage

Listen to your data, and don't let it ride first class for free.

Data sets run at different intensities, and many can operate optimally even when they're not relegated to your fastest, most expensive storage tiers. You'll cut costs and improve system quality when you consider the end-user needs associated with every data set and shift data that isn't performance-sensitive to less active tiers.

Tiered-storage systems are not yet perfect – today, data can only move between tiers at a slow rate, running the risk of negating benefits by failing to keep up with the speed of data usage. However, you'll likely run into situations where you need to pull cold data back to high-performance areas of your IT stack. Your storage system should react to performance changes and requirements throughout the data life cycle if you want to avoid bottlenecks and latency issues.

When you break down the components of your data center, you realize most have evolved in an effort to avoid the headaches with which they were once associated. Your networking platform is unlikely to introduce new problems into your environment, while your compute system is likely managed via virtualization. However, many of the management issues traditionally rooted in storage remain, especially as companies scale their IT deployments to support their growing businesses.

So, what's the holdup on the storage front? The answer to such a frustrating question is surprisingly simple. There's no one-size-fits-all solution for improving data storage – rather, the tactic that fits best with your company is likely as unique as your data itself. Currently, most major vendors are pushing a flash-focused vision for the future of data storage, and, while these strategies have plenty of merit, the investment involved with a flash deployment is unrealistic for any organization looking to scale. That's not to say flash should be avoided altogether; instead, you should carefully consider how your storage system can best handle data throughout its life cycle and be prepared to adjust as needed to provide new business value for end users.

In this slideshow, ClearSky Data CTO Laz Vekiarides shares five tips to help companies ask the right questions and start solving long-term issues with storage and data management at their core.

Lazarus Vekiarides is the chief technology officer and co-founder of ClearSky Data, a stealth mode startup building a breakthrough enterprise infrastructure solution. Previously, Vekiarides was a member of the core leadership team at EqualLogic and an executive at Dell. He is an expert in data storage, virtualization and networking technologies.

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